Judge Grants FTC's TRO Motion, Stays Iqvia's Propel Media Buy Until November

Iqvia and Propel Media shall not consummate their acquisition until after 11:59 p.m. EST Nov. 22 or the third business day after the court rules on the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction under the FTC Act, whichever is earlier, said U.S. District Court Judge Edgardo Ramos’ temporary restraining order (TRO) Friday (docket 1:23-cv-06188) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan. The companies are to take all necessary steps to prevent their officers, directors, agents, divisions, subsidiaries, affiliates, partnerships and joint ventures from completing the acquisition, the order said. Allowing health data firm Iqvia to complete its buy of digital advertising company Propel Media before issuance of a decision on the merits by the FTC through the administrative process “would harm consumers and undermine” the commission’s ability to remedy the anticompetitive effects of the proposed buy, said the FTC Wednesday in its complaint for a TRO (see 2307200024). Defendant Iqvia, the “self-described ‘market leader’ in healthcare data, seeks to extend its dominance into programmatic advertising to healthcare professionals (HCPs) through the proposed acquisition of DeepIntent," which Propel Media bought in 2017, said the FTC’s 245-page memorandum of law in support of the TRO. The proposed Propel buy, which follows Iqvia’s buy of Lasso Marketing in July 2022, would give Iqvia control of two of the three leading healthcare demand-side platforms (DSPs) that deliver automated, programmatic, digital ads directly to U.S. HCPs via websites, mobile apps and smart TVs, said the memorandum. Because Iqvia already controls the top healthcare data for running ad campaigns to HCPs, Iqvia would have the ability and incentive “to disadvantage current and potential rivals to DeepIntent and Lasso” after the acquisition, said the memorandum. It cited the “indicia of vertical harm" identified by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown Shoe Co. v. U.S., saying Iqvia is “likely to disadvantage Lasso’s and DeepIntent’s competitors” post-acquisition. As a result, competition in the growing market “will be curtailed, and healthcare companies will be forced to pay more to market their products,” it said.